Incumbents Marcum, Hatfield win

2016 General Election Mingo County results

WILLIAMSON – The November General Election was held Tuesday; however there wasn’t as much local excitement as there is during the May Primary elections in Mingo County.

There were a few local races where candidates did not have any opposition; however some incumbents did have challengers running against them.

In the 20th District House of Delegate race, incumbent Democrat Justin Marcum faced a challenge from Republican Mike Baisden. Baisden was a staunch Trump supporter.

In that race Marcum defeated Baisden 3,623 to 1,853. There is one precinct in Logan County, but it was not expected to make a difference in the results.

“It is truly an honor to represent the best people in the State. The 20th District has a chance to move forward if we all work together. As this election comes to an end, I am humbled to have the support of so many. I sincerely appreciate everyone who voted for me. For those who didn’t, I hope we can work together in the future. For our area to move forward, we must work together in a unified manner,” Marcum stated.

“Again, I thank those for their support. I look forward to the challenges ahead and promise to never stop fighting for the 20th District. God bless and please reach out to me if I can ever be of assistance,” Marcum added.

On the county level, incumbent County Clerk ‘Big’ Jim Hatfield, the Democratic nominee, faced a challenge from Independent candidate Anthony Blevins. Hatfield won re-election 6,237 to 2,184.

Incumbent Mingo County Sheriff James Smith, the Democratic candidate, had a challenger in Marty Fortner, a Republican from Verner. Those totals were 6,230 for Smith and 2,786 for Fortner.

Other Democratic candidates that were nominated in May did not have any Republican or Independent opposition. They include Thomas Taylor for Mingo County Commissioner, Lonnie Hannah for Circuit Clerk, Johnathan “Duke” Jewell for Prosecuting Attorney, Ramona Mahon for Assessor and Jimmy Lee Webb for Surveyor. Hannah received 7,183 votes, Jewell garnered 7,282 votes, Mahon got 7,469 and Taylor pulled 7,193 votes. Jimmy Lee Webb was unopposed once again for the County Surveyor’s position and he had 7,235 votes.

In the 21st District House seat, Democrat Phyllis Riffe White, was facing opposition from Republican Mark Dean. White was behind in Mingo Count in that race. Dean had 1,999 to 1,724 for White. There were also some precincts in Wyoming County for this seat to be added to the final totals.

In the 6th Senatorial District, Chandler Swope of Bluefield, the Republican Candidate, was running against Democratic nominee Rocky Seay of Princeton.

The Mingo County vote totals were 2.991 for Seay to 2,580 for Swope. The district wide race results will be listed in the Williamson Daily News (WDN) on Thursday for this race.

In the 7th Senatorial District race, Richard Ojeda of Holden, the Democratic candidate, went up against Republican Jordan Bridges, also of Logan. Ojeda took Mingo County 1,693 to Bridges 1,073. Due to print deadlines, the Logan vote totals will be released Thursday in the WDN. Most of the totals for this race will come from Logan County.

Mingo County is in a part of two senate districts and two different house districts that bleed over into other counties.

Of course on the national and state level, this General Election has garnered a lot of attention. The Presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump took Mingo County garnering 7,876 votes to Clinton’s 1,365.

Much of Trump’s support came from Clinton’s anti-coal comments.

Clinton was caught on tape saying, “Because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right?” That made her unpopular in coal country. Trump seemed to have a big edge in W.Va. in the polls.

For the Governor’s duel between Democrat Jim Justice and Republican Bill Cole are two important offices where voters had a big choice. There were three others on the ballot in the gubernatorial race, including former Democratic nominee Charlotte Pritt, who ran on the Mountain State Party ticket.

In the governor’s race, Justice took Mingo County over Cole 5,143 to 3,684, while Pritt got 427.

Other races that were on the ballot include the 3rd District Congressional seat where incumbent Republican Evan Jenkins had two challengers, Democrat Matt Detch and Libertarian Zane Lawhorn. The incumbent Jenkins received 6,929 votes in Mingo County, while Detch received 1,251 votes and Lawhorn 212 votes. Jenkins was expected to win the seat again.

Other races on the state level include Secretary of State, Auditor, Attorney General, Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture. The WDN will have all of those state vote totals and the winners in Thursday’s edition.

There were 9,664 votes cast in Mingo County. There are 20, 549 registered voters.

(Kyle Lovern is the Managing Editor for the Civitas Media Mountain District including the Williamson Daily News and Logan Banner. He can be contacted at [email protected] or at 304-235-4242, ext. 2277 or on Twitter @KyleLovern.)